Review

Thanks to the respective studies of Susan O'Brien, Leigh Eric Schmidt, W. R. Ward, Michael Crawford, and David Ceri Jones, modern scholars of eighteenth-century evangelicalism tend to view the various ‘awakenings’ during this period not as isolated local events, but as part of a much greater transatlantic episode. Indeed, O'Brien has spoken of a ‘transatlantic community of saints’, which was responsible for exchanging news of revivals across the Atlantic world.In line with these recent trends in the historiography, Jonathan Yeager has compiled an impressive anthology of primary literature relating to early evangelicalism, which incorporates an exhaustive range of evangelical authors from both sides of the Atlantic. However, before any of this is discussed, attention needs to be drawn to Yeager's introductory chapter, which manages to be both concise and informative at the same time. In this section, Yeager addresses the question of how one should define ‘evangelicalism’ by outlining the widely accepted Bebbington quadrilateral of biblicism, conversionism, crucicentrism, and activism. Importantly, when describing the authors whom this anthology includes, Yeager justifies his wise decision not to dwell on the likes of John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards by directing his readers to existing anthologies which are solely dedicated to these giant figures.Moving on to the main body of the anthology itself, one of the most positive aspects of this volume is Yeager's demonstration of how evangelicalism transcended gender, racial, and (to use an anachronism) class boundaries. Yeager achieves this by including the thoughts and views of those evangelicals, who, for whatever reason, were socially at a disadvantage. These include a range of female evangelicals—some relatively famous (e.g. Anne Steele and Hannah More)—others less so (an extract from the diary of Hannah Heaton, a New Englander, who struggled with her marriage to an ‘unregenerate’ man, makes fascinating reading). The fact that the Great Awakening sometimes affected the labouring poor is also demonstrated by Yeager's inclusion of the Connecticut farmer Nathan Cole's conversion narrative, which resulted from Cole's attendance at one of George Whitefield's open-air services. Finally, extracts from the works of Samson Occom, Phillis Wheatley, and Olaudah Equiano remind us that evangelicalism penetrated racial boundaries, often resulting in the conversions of Native Americans and blacks.Another key strength of this anthology is the diverse range of primary sources which Yeager incorporates. These include: extracts from the sermons of such prominent itinerants as Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent, hymns from the likes of Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and John Newton, articles from such pro-revivalist newspapers as The Glasgow-Weekly History and The Christian History, the conversion narratives of laymen like Howell Harris and the aforementioned Cole, and, finally, spiritual diaries.At the beginning of each extract, the reader is treated to an introduction to the author concerned. As one would expect, the length of these introductions vary somewhat, depending on the prominence of the author. Nevertheless, even when dealing with the likes of the Wesley brothers, Whitefield, or Wilberforce, Yeager still manages to accomplish a strong level of concision without neglecting the key moments in the individual's life and, in some cases, how the person in question differed from other contemporary evangelicals. Indeed, Yeager's sensitivity to the nuances of early evangelicalism is evident from his references to John Wesley's famous quarrels with Whitefield over predestination, and, more interestingly, the lesser known differences between John and Charles Wesley. These introductions also contain much useful contextual information relating to the extract in question and, in the case of published sources, the message which the author was attempting to convey. Furthermore, it is pleasing to see that Yeager ends each extract by citing the provenance of these sources, should the reader wish to do further research on these texts.Finally, if this anthology is lacking anything, it is anti-revivalist primary sources, which are completely absent. Potentially, this could have incorporated a very broad range of individuals, including opponents of Methodism from within the Church of England (e.g. George Lavington and William Warburton), New England Congregationalists (e.g. Charles Chauncey), and even such visual satirists as William Hogarth. On a more minor note, these sources do sometimes appear to have been ordered in an unusual manner. This is especially true of the earlier sources dealing with the First Great Awakening, where we find an extract from the spiritual diary of Sarah Pierpont Edwards sandwiched between two sources relating to the Scottish revivals of 1742. Despite these observations, this volume fills a gap by providing a thorough yet concise introduction to the transatlantic revivals of the ‘long’ eighteenth century. Anybody who is new to the historical background of early evangelicalism should certainly make this excellent anthology their first port of call.

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